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KARACHI, July 23: The Sindh High Court on Monday called the record and proceedings of the gang-rape cases of two girls, Kainat Soomro and Nasima Albano, pending in the sessions courts of Dadu and Mirpur Mathelo and issued a notice to the accused, at present in jail, for Aug 13.
Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed was hearing the applications of Ghulam Nabi Soomro, father of Kainat, and Hamza Albano, father of Nasima, for the transfer of the cases from the interior of Sindh to a sessions court in Karachi.
They submitted that their daughters and family members were given life threats by the respondents and it was very difficult for them to pursue the cases in Dadu and Mirpur Mathelo.
Thirteen-year-old Kainat Soomro was gang-raped in early January in the Mehar village of Dadu by three men after intoxicating her, whereas 16-year-old Nasima was kidnapped from her home and ganged-raped at a private place in the Mirpur Mathelo village.
The applicants’ counsel, Zia Ahmed Awan, stated that the influential perpetrators in both cases were threatening the victims and their family members of “dire consequences”. Police did not cooperate with them, rather they tried to stop the victims from seeking justice. He prayed for the transfer of both cases to Karachi as police also threatened the victims of dire consequences in case they tried to get justice.
Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed adjourned the hearing of an application for the transfer of the Mashooq Barohi murder case from Nawabshah to Karachi due to want of time.
The Lyari Task Force’s sacked chief, Chaudhry Aslam, had claimed having killed notorious dacoit Mashooq Brohi in a police encounter on July 12, 2006 in the Gadap police limits. However, the claim was refuted and a case against him and other police officials who had taken part in the encounter was registered by the Sakrand police on the complaint of Lal Bibi, wife of Rasool Bux Brohi, whom the LTF had killed as Mashooq Brohi.
The applicants' counsel, M. Ilyas Khan and Muhammad Farooq, expressing their lack of trust in the trial court in Nawabshah, said their clients had lost all hopes of an impartial trial before the sessions judge of Nawabshah and prayed to the court to transfer the trial of the case from Nawabshah to the sessions judge of Malir, Karachi.—PPI
